The Endless Odyssey
by Chumunga64
Summary: Three friends band together to fulfill their duties. just who and what will they meet along the way? Fantasy AU
1. Heading Out

***** **I always wanted to do a take on the cliche "Fantasy AU" that everyone already has done (and probably wrote better). the characters are mostly going to be the same as their regular counterparts but some will be wildly different (Some heroes will be villains)***

Izuku Midoriya placed the the last of his supplies in his bag. Tomorrow was the day his journey would begin. His mother sighed as he tied the travel bag. She knew that this day would come sooner or later but it didn't ease the fact that it hurt to see her son leave her. The only solace she had was that Izuku will be traveling with capable companions.

His mother remembered the day her little Izuku was given the gift. He was five years old when he saved his mage friend, Ochako from a pack of coyotes armed only with a stick and some of his books. He had received several cuts and bruises as a result of his heroic deed, however and soon fell ill. Everyone assumed his wounds were infected but it turned out what had really happened to him was beyond their wildest imagination.

The spirit of Divine Justice- The Almighty One apparently was impressed with Izuku's bravery fighting those coyotes and "rewarded him" by inhabiting his body. The results were...less than impressive. Despite the fact that he had such a powerful energy dwelling inside of him, Midoriya found himself to be only slightly stronger than the average five year old. Turns out that The Almighty One didn't just grant immense power at the drop of the hat. Izuku had to tirelessly train to get his body conditioned to handle such power. Clans and Guilds from neighboring towns were happy to lend their hands to train Izuku.

The Order of Ingenium of knights trained Izuku in how to wield weapons along with a boy who was about the same age. Tenya Iida and Izuku quickly became sparring partners and pretty good friends. They shared the same moral values barring one important facet of their integrity- their view of demons.

Tenya and the rest of the Order of Ingenium forged a strong partnership with beings from the demon realm. Demons enchanted their bodies, armours, and weapons while the Order provided goods and services demons wanted that were only available in the human realm. To Tenya, demons were just people that looked different and lived in far away places like any other foreigners. He even took trips to the demon realms with his parents at times to help deliver such goods.

Izuku never really trusted demons and that distrust soon turned into a prejudice after his father was slain by a band of demons. He never voiced his distaste for demons especially around the Order of Ingenium since they seemed to have a good relationship with them. Deep down, he couldn't believe such a noble line of knights would make deals with such vile creatures.

Aside from certain ideological difference the two young men also fought differently. Midoriya chose a lightweight mace to weild. His enhanced strength made such a weapons easy to weild and easy to imbue with spells he learned from Ochako's Coven. Iida chose a heavy claymore to use in battle. The high speed knight would lull enemies into thinking that they are facing a brute in heavy armour before attacking at supersonic speeds. The nimble Knight often wondered why his friend rejected the gifts his clan offered. Midoriya was fast, that much much was true but he could only go so fast without demons enchanting his body as he grew. All of his family members were enhanced since they started training so their bodies could get used to the magic. Midoriya neglected them for so long that even if he decided that he wanted to get the enhancements they wouldn't work on him. The Ingenium Order had their bodies slowly enhanced as they age so they could fully get used to the unheard of speed they possess. Tenya never knew that Midoriya's prejudice against demons prevented him from accepting their gifts.

Midoriya wasn't content with just being a physical fighter. Whenever he wasn't training with the Ingenium Order, he was off learning magic with the Impetu Coven, a group of magic users. Ochako Uraraka was around both Iida and Midoriya's age and a mage in training. While Uraraka focused on a well rounded style of fighting that involved learning all types of spells running a wide gamut of techniques to attack, heal, enhance her allies, summon, and so much more. She wanted to learn any spell she was able to. Midoriya knew he couldn't keep up with her while training with Iida so he focused on using magic to augment his and his allies' abilities.

 _Learning_ magic proved to be quite difficult for Midoriya. Training with Iida while hard was fairly straightforward. Even channeling the powers of the Almighty One became easier after performing so many strength drills. Learning to channel one's magical energy was grueling for Midoriya. He wasn't aware that to be a good mage that one not only had to practice channeling the latent magic inside them but also channel the planet's own energies to enhance their spells.

Uraraka could do this almost naturally and was even able to summon a familiar at a young age. It was nothing much at first- just a normal frog but as Uraraka became more experienced with the mystical arts, she learned how to give the frog human level intelligence and by the age of 14 she gave her the ability to freely morph into a pseudo-human form that had the abilities of a frog.

Tsuyu soon became a fourth member of the group.

Midoriya eventually learned some spells of his own, nothing too fancy, just some basic enhancement spells to improve combat abilities. The young man knew that he couldn't do much more in his sleepy little village so he decided to go on a journey to learn how to control the power within himself.

Inko felt tears down her face as she looked at her boy. "So...this will be your last night sleeping in your own bed"

"I know it's hard mom...I'm having second thoughts about this too but both Iida and Uraraka feel like they need to leave for their own reasons and this is the best chance I have."

"You're right, all three of you could protect each other but still…"

"There's no other way I could control the power inside me, mom. It chose me for a reason and I can't just waste my gift being a farmer or something!"

"Okay...but I need you to do one thing on your journey."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have a friend who lives in the Chealuer mountain range-"

"...Don't barbarians live there?"

Inko smiled nostalgically "Yes, I used to travel there to meet her. We mostly talk through magic mirrors since we both gave up our adventuring lifestyles to raise our families. She has a son around your age that she feels isn't content with staying in the mountains. She also told me that he doesn't have many friends so I was hoping that you three…"

Izuku chuckled "You want us to be friends with him? Mom, I'm always open to meeting new people but…"

"He's a barbarian, Izuku. That means he's a great fighter and powerful ally."

"Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt to meet him…"

Inko clasped her hands with joy "That's great! I'm going to call Mitsuki and tell her that you and your friends are going to visit!"

"Uh...do you know what her or her son look like?"

"Ah, I almost forgot! You're going to see a woman with spiky blonde hair greeting you once you reach the mountains. Don't be surprised if she makes you stay for dinner but you shouldn't worry since her husband is a stellar cook. Her son is a bit rough around the edges but I think you could manage him…"

Midoriya looked out the windows and sighed "When I first started training with Iida and Uraraka, I thought traveling to the places where they lived were so far away...now I realize just how little traveling I've done. My legs won't stop shaking mom, I'm still scared of what might happen...Pretty sad for the person chosen by the Almighty One, huh?"

Inko enveloped her son in a tight hug "Oh Izuku, being afraid doesn't make you a weakling or coward. You're still going on this journey to learn how to control your powers, right? And you want to do that because you want to help people with the gift you've been given. That's the reason why the Almighty One chose you to wield his power."

"I guess you're right…"

* * *

"You're really going to do this, Tenya?"

"I have to mother. Tensei was slain by that monster. He saved my life when that vile being tried to kill me and sacrificed himself for my own well being. His soul wasn't even allowed to find peace since that criminal used his magic to seal him inside my blade." Tenya gasped in pain after finishing his sentence

His parents immediately ran to his side as his father asked him what caused him to double over in agony. Tenya showed him a mark on his wrist and both of his parents gasped in horror.

"What's wrong? The man who killed Tenya barely grazed my wrist with that knife of his...I think he used magic to heat it up however…"

"That's not a burn wound my boy...You've been cursed!"

"What?"

"The foe you fought, he cast a spell on you, a dire one at that. "Traiecto Mortem" is a curse meant to kill someone slowly...over the course of a year this mark will grow upwards until it reaches your heart and then you will perish."

"Is...is there any cure?"

"Only one...tell me Tenya, why did you partake in this quest?"

"I wanted to meet the Lady of the Lake so she could help unseal Tensei's spirit from my blade."

"Well you will now have to request two favors from her. If I recall correctly, only a mage of her calibur could banish this curse from your body...if she deems you worthy to be cured."

Iida panicked slightly at his father's words "Y-You met her before, haven't you? She would help a dying soul, wouldn't she?"

"I don't know, the Lady of the Lake isn't an immortal being. The one I met was kindly old woman but that was years ago and whoever has taken her position might not be so compassionate."

"Well...It's better to ask her and get a "no" than to stay here and slowly rot away. My friends could use my my help as well since they have their own quests that they need to complete."

"Ah yes, we shall send some of our guards to Uraraka's village to make sure no bandits make out with anyone's belongings."

"Thank you mother."

"It's no bother to us, we're just happy that your so determined to help your friends on their journeys as well. You're an embodiment of the ideals that this clan was founded on- to fight only for justice."

Tenya gave his mother a weak smile in response before bidding his parents a farewell to meet Uraraka. He wanted to to leave as soon as possible because he couldn't look his parents in the eyes after they praised him for his kindness.

The truth was that he had another reason to go on the trek with his friends. He wanted to find his brother's killer and make him pay for what he had done. It was a betrayal of his clan's ideals to pursue vengeance so viciously and every one of them wouldn't approve of his goal.

 _They would never understand...they didn't see Tensei get cut down by that monster...he sacrificed himself to save my life and I must avenge his death._

* * *

Ochako Uraraka put her hands in her head and sighed in defeat. All of the people in her village were now turned to stone- and it was all her fault. What started as a deadly flu outbreak became something much worse because she was too confident with her magical abilities. She thought that one of her healing spells would do the trick but instead it turned her entire village into stone. She modified the infection and as a result, her friends and family became lifeless husks!

Well, that wasn't exactly true...They were still alive but they were immovable and unbreakable stone statues. It must be terrible not being able to do anything that made you human, to be stuck in one place knowing who and where you are but not being able to do anything about it.

And it was all her fault.

The frog on her shoulder jumped to the floor and began morphing into a human form "You shouldn't blame yourself. This disease was going to kill everyone that was infected and in a way, you gave them more time…"

"They're not that much better off, Tsu…"

"But isn't this why you're exploring the world with your friends? To find a cure?"

"Listen...Tsu, I know you mean well but I can't lie to myself and pretend this isn't my fault!"

"I'm not asking you to do that. I'm asking you to not beat yourself up about it too much! You have people to save and moping around isn't going to do anything!"

Uraraka sighed "You're right Tsu...I guess I just wanted to be more honest with myself…"

"Why don't you be honest with your friends and tell them what really happened to your village? I'm sure that they will understand what you tried to do and why you did it-"

Uraraka wildly waved her hands in the air "No! I can't do that...It'll just make things more complicated, you know?"

"I don't…"

"Listen...those two thinking I messed up will make them lose faith in me as a mage and they won't trust me to help them. I can't let that happen!"

Tsuyu sighed "Whatever you say…"

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Iida, who gave them a warm greeting. Tsuyu waved back at him while Uraraka ran towards him to give him a warm hug.

"It's good to see you, Iida!" Uraraka squeaked before she turned her eyes to the ground "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother...I wish I could help you…"

Iida stopped her before she can continue "Uraraka, you're a wonderful mage but you're still just a teen...we all are and we shouldn't be crestfallen that we don't know everything yet."

Tsuyu joined in on Iida's praise "If you weren't so talented, I wouldn't be here right now!"

"See Uraraka, you were able to bring to life a good friend in Tsuyu! You should be proud of your accomplishment! Who knows what you will be able to learn once you complete your journey. Speaking of which, There will be guards arriving in this village shortly to make sure bandits don't run off with anything hear. You don't need to worry about anything"

Uraraka's smile returned to her face after her friends complimented her prowess. For a brief moment, she forgot that she was the reason why her village was in its current state.

"Thank you guys so much!"

Iida nodded "We should go find Midoriya."

Tsuyu morphed back into her frog form and jumped in Uraraka's travel bag.

* * *

Izuku saw the shape of his two friends march towards his house. Today was the day…

"Mom...my friends are here!"

Inko gave her son one last hug before bidding her little Izuku a farewell. She waved goodbye to the three teens as they began their journey

"Make sure that you all stick together, okay! I don't want any of you getting hurt!"

As Midoriya's town disappeared over the horizon, the three knew that there was no going back now.

"So..what should we do first?" Uraraka asked

"We should head over to the Sario town inn to spend a night. There should be jobs posted there that could give us some valuable money and experience. I have enough money to last us a good while but it won't last forever…"

"I almost forgot that your family is filthy rich, Iida…" Uraraka said

"Hey guys let's not stay in the inn for too long, okay?"

"Do you have any plans Midoriya?"

"Yeah...my mom says she knows a bunch of barbarians in the Chealuer Mountains. She says there is a guy around our age that would probably join us on our journey."

Uraraka looked at MIdoriya quizzically "Your mom knows some barbarians?"

Midoriya shrugged "Apparently she was friends with one and they used to hang out all the time before they settled down and became mothers. They still talk through magic mirrors and my mom told them that we would be arriving soon so we shouldn't make them wait."

"Indeed, we should travel swiftly!"

 ***** **This chapter is mostly exposition so far. I wanted to establish a reason why Iida, Uraraka, and Midoriya wanted to partake in this quest so I gave them all some "miniature goals" for the time being ***


	2. Slayin' Saurians

***** **Warning- contains some ( albeit non-suicidal) self harm***

The Blooming flower Inn was always bustling with travelers from across the land. Sario town was a trading hub, located in the middle between bustling cities and sleepy towns. A lot of traders and business people stayed here to make deals. The three travelers opened the door looking for a place to stay.

"I shall talk to the woman in front" Iida said, which earned a nod for Midoriya and Uraraka.

Iida walked over to the proprietor of the establishment. "Do you have any rooms available? My friends and I need a place to stay."

"I have a couple of rooms open."

"We'll take three" Iida placed a good amount of gold at the counter "I believe this should be sufficient payment."

The innkeeper eyed the gold coin carefully "Ingenium Clan, eh? Should have known from the armour your brandishing. I take it you're an heir?"

Iida nodded "Indeed, I am the youngest child of the Iida family."

The innkeeper raised an eyebrow in interest "I should address you as "my lord" then"

Iida shook his head "Despite our wealth, we still prefer to be spoken to as common knights. We don't much care about the woes of royalty"

"Alright...should I be concerned what you three are doing traveling? You're are still teenagers."

Iida chuckled "While we are indeed young, we all know that we cannot gain anything else staying put. Your destiny won't come to you on a silver platter, you must seize it."

"I like your guts kid but I think you're in over your head. The world is a big place and it's not kid or fair to anyone. I think you kids should really think about what you're doing."

"I appreciate the concern man but we all know what we are getting into."

The innkeeper sighed "Alright...three rooms, right?"

Iida nodded "indeed"

As the trio walked into their rooms, both Midoriya and Uraraka took the time to ask Iida what was up.

"What did you talk about with the innkeeper?"

"Nothing too important Midoriya; she expressed some concern about the three of us going on such a journey together at such a young age"

"I mean...when you think about it, it _is_ crazy! Me and Midoriya are fifteen and you're sixteen Iida! I never thought I'd be traveling across the land like this!"

"Uraraka, you're on this quest so you can find a way to cure your village from the stone plague. Iida needs to free his brother's soul from his soul and that's why he's here. I need to learn how to use the Almighty One to help people. We're not just kids goofing off, we _need_ to do this."

Uraraka looked to the ground "You're right, Deku...It still feels weird doing any of this."

"It's not strange to feel a little overwhelmed, Uraraka. Both Midoriya, Tsuyu, and I sometimes feel the gravity of the situation and get a little astonished. If you need anyone to talk to, we are here and we probably share most of your feelings."

Uraraka chuckled "The fact that you guys feel the same way is enough to make me feel better! Didn't want to be the only person here that was scared."

Midoriya beamed at her "Trust me Uraraka, you are _definitely_ not the only person scared here!"

The three of them laughed at Midoriya's joke before heading to their room to rest. It was still relatively early in the evening but they had been traveling since daybreak and needed some rest.

* * *

The first thing Uraraka did when she entered her room was remove her heavy wizard's hat and robe. She knew that they helped increase her magical power but they made her feel like she was on the standing on the surface of the sun. on instinct she tried to talk to Tsu about it but then she remembered that Tsuyu hopped in a pond that was behind the inn. Given the choice between a body of water and a nice warm room, Tsu always chose the former.

She was happy that there was magic mirror in the room and decided to contact an old friend that taught her so much in the art of magic.

"Nejire?"

An image of a woman with long blue hair filled the mirror "Ochako! It's good to see you!"

Uraraka smiled "it's good to see you Neji. How's everything going on your mission?"

Nejire grinned "the same old, same old really. Some Lord wanted us to get rid of something nasty, this time a chimera and we went to work to drive it out. Today was special though…"

Uraraka cocked her head "special?"

"Yeah! We were working with another team! Well "team" wasn't really a good description...uh, two mercenaries the Lord hired joined us! They were around our age- a blonde guy who used some sort of magic to walk through walls. The thing about him was that he has to wear special clothes made out of his hair, if he doesn't than he just phases out of his clothes!"

Uraraka blushed "that sounds super embarrassing! I'd never be able to do that! What about the other guy?"

"His companion is a really cute guy who could shapeshift. It's too bad he doesn't lose his clothes when he uses magic to fight" Nejire said with an exaggerated pout.

"Nejire!" Uraraka yelled

"What? But in all seriousness, those two seem like experienced adventurers. They fight like they've been close for some time. I asked the blonde, Mirio about it and he said that him and his friend Tamaki were orphaned when they were kids. They were taken in by some wizard afterwards and they've been brothers ever since."

"Wow...it looks like you've come to like them."

"They're pretty fun to be around. It's also nice to have some guys in a band full of women. Anyway, what's going on with you?"

"We just started our journey. I really hope I can find a cure for my village…"

"I think you're gonna find it easier than you think. You're pretty talented for such a young mage. You were one year younger than me when you made your familiar! And you and Tsu got along ever since she got sentience. It took ages for me and Miruko to get on the same page!"

"It's not just my village I'm worried about...Iida is like a machine! Midoriya and I are super nervous but he's been eerily calm about everything!"

"Well he's royalty, right? Well kinda...he's always been serious, hasn't he?"

"Yeah but lately it feels like he's been hiding something…"

Nejire rolled her eyes "I don't think you could complain about hiding anything, Ochako."

Uraraka rubbed the back of her neck "I guess you're right about that…"

"Listen, I wish I could talk more but we're closing in on the Chimera. Yuya got reports of a lion creature with a goat head around the Durandal Caverns."

"I guess I should get some sleep, we're gonna do some jobs tomorrow for some money…"

"Alright, see you later."

* * *

"Mom?"

"Izuku! Where did you find a magic mirror?"

"We're staying in an inn for a couple of days. Is that alright? I don't want to keep your friend waiting…"

"She and her family won't be expecting you in quite a while, Izuku. The Chealuer Mountains are pretty from our town. When you arrive there just say you're Inko's son, alright?"

"Okay mom."

"So, I guess you're staying at Sario Town? It's the closest place to our home and it has some decent markets."

Izuku nodded "Yeah. we're gonna stay here a couple of days before we head out again then we're gonna go to the mountains to try to visit your friend."

"That's a sound plan...well you probably are tired and I don't want to keep you awake all night. I don't expect you to call me every night but please keep in touch."

"I will mom, good night"

* * *

Iida sat in bed simply staring at the charcoal brand on the top of his wrist. He couldn't believe that such a small mark could kill him in time. His brother's murderer wasn't content with taking Tensei's life. No, he had to spread his evil to him as well.

He was going to find that monster and avenger his brother.

But first he needed to deal with the curse at hand. The young knight took a dagger from his belongings and glanced at the brand. His father told him that he needed to find the Lady of the Lake to dispel the curse but he wasn't going to let such a fickle mistress determine if he was worthy enough to be free of the curse.

"Simply ridiculous" he snorted. He was a man of action and he couldn't let the curse distract him from his goals of setting Tensei's soul free and to find and slay his killer.

Iida took the knight and dug it into his tainted flesh. He groaned in agony, he had been stabbed in the arm before but this was different. Trying to cut the curse placed upon him seemed to cause it to become active. He felt a stabbing in his heart but he kept on going. The sinews of his flesh that bared the brand had almost been ripped off and he fought through the pain. He kept telling himself that it would all be worth it to get rid of such anxiety and that he had to get going.

Once he ripped the chunk of flesh off he bit the scream that was building in his lungs. Almost instantaneously, he reached for the healing potion that was in his bag and poured it all over his now bloodied wrist. Iida let out a sigh of relief as he felt his remaining skin pull itself together and mend his wound rapidly.

Once he looked at the now healed arm, his mouth went agape in horror.

The brand simply appeared again on his now healed wrist. Whoever that monster was, he knew how to put curses on people. Tearing out his own skin didn't help him at all. He needed to find the lady of the lake.

In anger, Iida kicked the foot of his bed and cursed the heavens. Simply cutting the knot wasn't going to be sufficient. He had a year to find the Lady of the Lake before he expired.

* * *

"Midoriya, wake up"

The green haired paladin jolted awake upon hearing his friend's voice. As soon as his eyes opened, he saw Iida and Uraraka, both fully dressed.

"We're gonna hunt some saurians that are causing the people here some trouble." Uraraka chirped "Come on and get dressed! They like to bask in the sunlight during the day so we could get a drop on em!"

"Wow Uraraka, you sound hyped."

Uraraka twiddled her thumbs "Well I got some new spells that I want to test on them…"

"Alright, let's go!"

Uraraka, Iida, Midoriya, and Tsuyu crept up on the Saurians at high noon, the sun was shining down and about 7 of them were relaxing under the beaming rays. One of them stood vigilante, watching over the others.

"We must be careful around the one that is awake. Our best-case scenario is to take it out before it alerts the others. If they indeed wake up then we should focus on severing their tails."

"You want us to cut their tails off?"

"Yes Midoriya, Saurians tend to flee from battle once their tails are severed. They are also vulnerable to cold temperatures so you're our trump card Uraraka."

Uraraka gave Iida a mock salute "You got it!"

"I'll try to stay away from Ochako then considering that I'm a...frog"

"You could fight with me Tsu! Iida is fast enough to avoid Uraraka's ice blasts and you could spit mucus on the Saurians."

As soon as they discussed the plans, Uraraka shot a frigid bolt at the guard that killed it instantly. What they didn't account for was that the Saurians had high pitched death squeals that alerted the rest of the pack. They all awoke and zone in on the party.

Midoriya coated his mace with an ice enhancement and channeled the Almighty Spirit to gain a boost in speed. Tsuyu spat on the feet of the Saurians, rendering them immobile and gave Midoriya a chance to bash their heads in with his ice enhanced mace.

Iida was zooming past the remaining Saurians while cutting their tails off. He was too fast for their primitive minds to keep up with. A part of him felt a little sorry for the beasts but then he remembered this particular group killed a family they stumbled upon.

He was merely a distraction however. If the Saurians focused on him then they wouldn't pay any mind to Uraraka charging up a high-level ice spell.

"Frigor!" Iida got out of the way as fast as possible as a miniature blizzard slew the tail-less Saurians. She collapsed in exhaustion afterwards since it was such a large spell.

As soon as Midoriya and Tsuyu finished off their group, the small band of warriors was about to bask in their victory until a second group of Saurians arrived. But before they could attack the band of teens, they were wiped out by an impressive blast of ice.

"Are you people alright?" asked a regal looking teen with a white stallion

"How does that guy have two coloured hair that's perfectly parted?" Uraraka whispered to Midoriya

 ***** **Any person who played Dragon's Dogma could pretty much tell I lifted these Saurians from that game***


End file.
